All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing. -- Edmund Burke

Monday, October 29, 2007

Back in July I highlighted David Gratzer's superb piece in City JournalThe Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care, which among other things showed that a whole new cottage industry has grown in Canada which is dedicated to getting around the broken government system there.

The British National Health Service has launched an entire new industry: surgical tourism. The Daily Mail reports that the numbers of Britons seeking an escape from the universal health-care system will exceed 70,000 this year and 200,000 by 2010, flying to all parts of the world to get medical attention, and better surgical conditions:

Record numbers of Britons are travelling abroad for medical treatment to escape the NHS - with 70,000 patients expected to fly out this year.

And by the end of the decade 200,000 "health tourists" will fly as far as Malaysa and South Africa for major surgery to avoid long waiting lists and the rising threat of superbugs, according to a new report.

The first survey of Britons opting for treatment overseas shows that fears of hospital infections and frustration of often waiting months for operations are fuelling the increasing trend. ...

India is the most popular destination for surgery, followed by Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, Poland and Spain. But dozens more countries are attracting health tourists.

If you really want to get an idea of how bad things will get under a Clinton National Health Care system, please read the above articles and follow all the links. And then take heart: just because the Canadian and UK's Health Care systems are nightmarish doesn't mean ours has to be.

You see, we still have a choice: we can prevent health care "rationing" from happening here by ensuring Hillary or some other Socialist does not get elected next year; we can elect a Republican President and Republican Congress and put this insanity to bed once and for all. There are viable free market proposals out there which actually could work for all of us, would allow the US to continue to enjoy the best health care on Planet Earth, and (most importantly) would allow Americans to continue to get the care they want when they want it; but to get there it will take a government and a President who actually believe in the power of the marketplace.

You will not find this in today's Democrat party. If you care about the health of you and your family, you will keep this in the forefront of your mind next year.